Over the next few weeks, the number of posts I will be publishing will be much fewer. This is because I am prepping for my two week solo and STEAM Unit. The prepping of materials and lessons plans is becoming intense because of my perfectionist manner, but I am excited still.
Will keep you all posted as much as possible.
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Showing posts with label ELA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ELA. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
My very first 5th Grade ELA lesson
This lesson (explained in another one of my posts about a mascot), went amazingly! Students were excited throughout the period, they were on task and discussions were very meaningful. Even though this lesson was directed at beaing pretty silly and fun and creative, the students took it seriously enough to use their time effectively and the stories they came up with was beyond my expectation. The best part of it all was seeing students so excited to share their stories with the class at the end of the period.
During the first round of this lesson, my college supervisor was there to observed and made several comments on how well the lesson went and how engaged the students were. Student behaviors were nearly perfect, with only one student having difficulty because he was simply not sure how to get his ideas organized on paper. I presented this student with a graphic organizer I had premade and the issue seemed to be solved.
During the second round of this lesson, the 5th grade ELA teacher was in to observe. This time the classroom was louder (26 children were talking and discussing ideas), but all conversations were on task and meaningful. Toward the end, predictably, students became a little off task, so I pulled the group together sooner than I had anticipated in order to wrangle everyone to focus. By doing this, it allowed for more students to share their work, and I gave students permission to add to their stories while others were presenting. I think this enriched their writing further.
It was truly amazing to see the stories and narratives that the students came up with. So many possibilities, so many personalities, so much creativity.
I am more than happy to post my lesson plan or even student work if anyone is interested.
And as always, thank you for reading, feel free to share and like this post.
During the first round of this lesson, my college supervisor was there to observed and made several comments on how well the lesson went and how engaged the students were. Student behaviors were nearly perfect, with only one student having difficulty because he was simply not sure how to get his ideas organized on paper. I presented this student with a graphic organizer I had premade and the issue seemed to be solved.
During the second round of this lesson, the 5th grade ELA teacher was in to observe. This time the classroom was louder (26 children were talking and discussing ideas), but all conversations were on task and meaningful. Toward the end, predictably, students became a little off task, so I pulled the group together sooner than I had anticipated in order to wrangle everyone to focus. By doing this, it allowed for more students to share their work, and I gave students permission to add to their stories while others were presenting. I think this enriched their writing further.
It was truly amazing to see the stories and narratives that the students came up with. So many possibilities, so many personalities, so much creativity.
I am more than happy to post my lesson plan or even student work if anyone is interested.
And as always, thank you for reading, feel free to share and like this post.
Monday, February 2, 2015
I have found a way to use a classroom Mascot with 5th Graders
My college supervisor aassigned that I plan and teach a ELA lesson. Language Arts is not my strong area and I dread having to plan lessons in this subject. Looking back at my previous posts, it came to me to use my classroom mascot to help motivate students to right. I thought to help students make a connection to the mascot, named Wage, they could create the backstory for him. While aligning this with the Common Core State Standards, I found that Narrative Writing was one of the components often looked over.
My next thought: how can I guide these students to write a detailed narrative without given them too much guiding information. My goal was for students to use their own thoughts and imaginations to write their own background stories for Wage, but in a guided way. How was I going to do this?
Storu Cubes! If you have not heard of these, they are a set of 9 dice with 54 different pictures on them. When the dice are rolled they can be used in various ways, but I thought I would have students choose 6 out of the 9 images to use for their narratives. The choices are selected by the students rather than guided by me, which gives them a level of freedom, but guided academic choice. OF COURSE I would model what I was looking for first, and give students the instruction they need to complete the task, but I think giving the students the CHARACTER and PARTIAL INFORMATION would challenge the students enough to be engaged in the activity, enough choice that they feel free to write their own style, AND enough choice that they can draw on their own strengths.
I would be willing to make the lesson plan public, just ask in the comments.
I will write an update post after I teach the lesson on Wednesday (which I will be teaching twice).
My next thought: how can I guide these students to write a detailed narrative without given them too much guiding information. My goal was for students to use their own thoughts and imaginations to write their own background stories for Wage, but in a guided way. How was I going to do this?
Storu Cubes! If you have not heard of these, they are a set of 9 dice with 54 different pictures on them. When the dice are rolled they can be used in various ways, but I thought I would have students choose 6 out of the 9 images to use for their narratives. The choices are selected by the students rather than guided by me, which gives them a level of freedom, but guided academic choice. OF COURSE I would model what I was looking for first, and give students the instruction they need to complete the task, but I think giving the students the CHARACTER and PARTIAL INFORMATION would challenge the students enough to be engaged in the activity, enough choice that they feel free to write their own style, AND enough choice that they can draw on their own strengths.
I would be willing to make the lesson plan public, just ask in the comments.
I will write an update post after I teach the lesson on Wednesday (which I will be teaching twice).
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